The Buffalo Sabres were a stagnant, but improved bunch in 2022-23, so much that one more win would have put them into the postseason.
Now that we are nearing the one-week mark from the 2022-23 Buffalo Sabres season finale, we can slowly move from reflecting mode to projecting mode. And one major projection I can make is that the Blue and Gold will finally, after 13 long years, find themselves playing in the postseason.
They will still be a young team, and with Craig Anderson retiring, their average age may decrease even if the likes of Zemgus Girgensons and Kyle Okposo return, along with everyone else. But they showed us this past year that just because you’re a young group, it doesn’t mean you can’t be a playoff team.
Next year, they will drive that point home when they break into the postseason. Here are three reasons why.
Why the Buffalo Sabres will be in the playoffs in 2024
1 – Sabres record against opponents this season spoke volumes
While Buffalo played to its competition at times, they finished 24-11-4 (52 points) against non-playoff teams. Even as a young group, the Sabres primarily got the best of teams they were supposed to beat. They also weren’t terrible against those who made it to the postseason, finishing 18-22-3 (39 points) in those games.
With a young, but still more experienced team next season, expect Buffalo to win a few more games in each category, finishing roughly 26-8-5 (57 points) vs. those who miss and breaking the 20-win threshold, perhaps 21-19-3 (45 points) against the league’s top teams. Do the math, and you’re looking at a 102-point season.
2 – Experience pays dividends
Multiple times this past season, I claimed the “Sabres playoffs started early.” The first time I said that occurred on March 8th, and while the Blue and Gold struggled at times, they finished the season 10-6-3 (23 points) after I made that proclamation.
And when the pressure amped up following the team’s 2-1 loss to the Florida Panthers, they finished the year 5-1-0, a far cry from the team that was squandering under pressure in March.
What’s more? From March 24th to the season finale on April 14th, the Buffalo Sabres finished 9-2-1 (19 points), showing us that they started handling that pressure in a better way than they did between February 28th and March 21st, when they went 2-8-2 (6 points).
3 – Less than a few puzzle pieces from becoming a complete team
Funnily enough, the Sabres weren’t what you could call a complete team in 2022-23. For most of the season at goaltender, they had an aging Craig Anderson, a journeyman in Eric Comrie, and a kid who seemed to be in over his head at times in Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen manning the net.
There was no potential franchise goaltender on the roster until Devon Levi shook things up with an unforgettable debut. Levi won five games, and he was the only Sabre to finish the year with a GAA below the 3.00 threshold.
If the Buffalo Sabres find a viable replacement for Victor Olofsson (Jiri Kulich, perhaps?) and they land one final top four defenseman, preferably someone with a style similar to Mattias Samuelsson’s, then this team will be set, despite their overall youth. And yes, you can start talking playoffs in the Queen City for the first time a long time, a lucky 13 years, to be exact.
Source: Mike Harrington: Watching playoffs this year finally takes on added meaning for Sabres’ brass by Mike Harrington, BuffaloNews.com
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)